Blending and heat exchange mill



J. J. FISCHER BLENDING AND HEAT EXCHANGE MILL Dec. 29, 1959 Filed March 8. 1956 INVENTQR. JOH J 1 7 CHER BY 0, W,My@m,

A TTORNE vs.

United States Patent BLENDING AND HEAT-'EXCHAN GE MILL John J. Fischer,.EastStroudsburg, Pa., assignor to The Patterson-Kelley Co., Inc., East Stroudsburg, Pa.

Application-March 8, 1956,Serial No. 570,286

- Claims. (Cl..257--75) ZThisinvention relates tov material heating or cooling devices for use in the various industries, and more particularly ,to .an improved device as aforesaid which is also adapted for useqas a blender formaterials such-as are difi'icult to admix, and wherein the admixture may at the same time be either heated or cooled or dried, as may be required.

.It is an object of the invention to provide an'improved tumbler type combination mixing and heat exchanging mill, adapted to process raw materials of both SOlld and vliquidyforrn requiring to be intimately mixed or blended and at the same time either heated or cooled or dried, asthe case may be.

Another object of the-invention is to-provide a mill for thezpurposes ,aforesaid.which is of novel structural formto provide highly efficient heat exchange operations.

. .Another objectof the invention is to provide a mill as .aforesaid whichgis of structurally simple and ugged .form,- and swhich'may be relativelyinexpensively fabrlmill, Wherebycontaminations, ,of the. ;,mill productsmay be avoided.

IOtherJobjects. and,,advantagespofgthe invention will 1 appearinlthe specification hereinafter.

jgIn thezdrawingz t "Fig. Lis, avertical sectional viewthrough anux ng or blendingiand. heat. exchange mill of -;the invention; and

Fig. 2 is a sectional view thereof taken along line IIII of Fig. 1.

As shown in the drawing, the mill casing of the invention may be constituted to comprise essentially a threepart construction; comprising a central cylindrical or drum-shaped section 10, and conical-shaped opposite end sections 12, 14. The central section includes a cylindrical outside wall portion 16 to which are welded header plates 1818. The central section 10 may also be provided as shown with peripheral flanges 19-19 for bolted connections as indicated at 20 with corresponding flange portions 21 extending from the conical end portions 12, 14.

The header plates 18-48 are bored in mutual alignment to receive therebetween a plurality of tubes 22, as in the manner of conventional steam boiler construction. A removable cover as indicated at 24 is provided at the apex end of one of the conical sections so as to provide a material loading and discharge device. Thus, preparatory to loading the mill with a charge of material as indicated for example at 25, the door end portion of the mill will be rotated to the top position thereof as shown by broken lines in Fig. 1. The door 24 may then be opened, and the mill charged with the material to be blended and heated or cooled or dried, as the case may be. The mill is then rotated for either heating or cooling the charges; and then upon completion of the material processing ,operation the m ill .isfi n ally rotated to .the

door-down position as illustrated by-the solidline showingthereof in Fig. 1. The door-24 is then openedto permitdischarge of the treated material by gravity from the mill onto a conveyor ,or. the like,,as is well known in the material handling. art. A door control lever 26, and a pressure control screw 27, as shown in Fig. 1 may be employed in connectionwith the door 24 in order to insure vapor-tight locking of the door and ease of handling thereof during the mill discharging and charging operations.

The mill is mounted upon trunnion bearings as indicated at.30, 32. and arranged to be driven by any suitable means, as for example by meansof an electric motor 34 through a, gear train 36; the mill per se being supported on the trunnion bearings by means of stub shaft devices .38, 40..which. arezbolted or otherwise. fixed to opposite sides of the mill. Thus, it will be appreciated that under operation .of the motor 34, the gear train will operate to drive themill to rotate upon the trunnion bearings 30, 32, whereby the mill feed material 25, disposed interiorly of the mill casing will be tumbled alternately between the conical end portions .12, 14. During this process the mill feed-,material is caused to flow back and forth between the conical section 12 and the conical section 14 through the tubes 22. This. operation of the mill causes the mill feed material to be subjected to a novel churning and .heat exchange operation interiorly of the conical sections and thetube portions of .the mill.

For example, as the mill rotates from a substantially horizontal position into a vertical attitude, the mill feed material in the lower conical section is caused to slide through the tubes of the mill into the opposite conical section of-,t he mill, wherein; it is caused to pour downis caused to slide backin reverse direction through the tubesbfithemill toward-the oppositeconical end portion of the mill. Theconical end portions thereby function asmixing chambers. .Hence it will be understood that the milLfeedmaterial is thereby subjected to a diversely directed. seriesof flow paths; thereby receiving a novel heating vfictionfeatured by maximum churning of the materialwhile itis sliding in heat exchange rubbing relation with a maximum total area of heat exchange surfaces.

For example, as shown in Fig. l, the stub shaft 38 at one side of the mill may be of hollow form to accommodate therethrough a pair of liquid circulation conduits 42, 44, whereby steam or hot or cold water or the like may be caused to enter conduit 42 to circulate into and throughout the central tube mounting portion 10 of the mill, from a supply source exteriorly thereof. Thus, the circulating liquid or gas will flow throughout the drum shaped central portion 10 of the mill in intimate heat exchange relation with the outer surfaces of the tubes 22, thereby imparting to the tubes 22 the desired heat exchange capacities for either heating or cooling the mill feed material as it flows back and forth through the tubes, as explained hereinabove. The condensate or discharge liquid exits through conduit 44.

As illustrated at the right hand side portion of the mill in Figs. 1, 2, a vacuum conduit may be arranged in conjunction with the hollow interior of the stub shaft 40 if desired; the connection between the vacuum conduit 50 and the stub shaft 40 being made through a suitable stuffing box or the like, as indicated at 52. The conduit 50 may then lead to any suitable vacuum supply device, and thus it will be appreciated that the interior of the mill casing may be thereby subjected'to a partial vacuum so as to facilitate evaporation and removal of moisture from the mill feed material, where it is designed to eifect rapid drying of the mill feed material.

I claim:

1. A heat exchange device for heating or cooling flowable materials, comprising a casing having a portion with tube means extending therethrough and normally closed mixing chamber portions at the opposite ends thereof in communication with said tube means, means mounting said casing for rotation with said tube means and said chamber portions moving in unison about an axis transverse to the direction of said tube means, means constraining material in said casing portion to flow between said chamber portions substantially only through said tube means, whereby upon rotation of said casing portion a load of material therein slides alternatelyfrom one chamber portion through said tube means into the other chamber portion, and vice versa, and means for circulating a heat exchange fluid through said casing portion in heat exchange contact with the external surfaces of said tube means.

2. A heat exchange blending device for heating or cooling fiowable materials, comprising a casing having tube means extending partially therethrough and normally closed mixing chamber portions at the opposite ends of said tube means in communication therewith, means mounting said casing for rotation with said tube means and said chamber portions moving in unison about an axis transverse to the direction of extension of said tube means, means constraining material in said casing to flow between said chamber portions substantially only through said tube means, whereby upon rotation of said casing a load of material therein slides alternately from one chamber portion of said casing through the interiors of said tube means into the other chamber portion, and vice versa, and means for circulating a heat exchange fluid in heat exchange contact with the external surfaces of said tube means.

3. A heat exchange and blending device for heat exchange treatment of flowable materials, comprising a tumbling mill including a normally closed casing having a pair of tube sheets disposed in parallel relation transversely of said casing and subdividing said easing into a generally cylindrical tube section and generally conical mixing chamber end sections at opposite ,endsthereof, generally parallel tubes extending endwise between said tube sheets in open communication with said end sections, means mounting said casing for rotation of said tube section and said end sections in unison about an axis transverse to the lengthwise direction of said tubes,

for rotation of said tube section and said chamber whereby upon rotation of said casing a load of material therein slides alternately from one end section through said tubes into the other end section, and vice versa, and means for circulating a heat exchange fluid through said casing tube section in heat exchange contact with the external surfaces of said tubes.

4. A heat exchange device for heating or cooling flowable materials, comprising a casing having tube means extending partially therethrough and mounted at their opposite ends in spaced headers extending transversely of said casing and defining otherwise normally closed mixing chamber portions at the opposite ends of said casing, means mounting said casing for swinging of said tube means and said chamber portions in unison about an axis transverse to the direction of extension of said tube means, whereby upon swinging of said casing a load of material therein slides alternately from one chamber portion of said casing through the interiors of said tube means into the other chamber portion, and means for circulating a heat exchange fluid in heat exchange contact with the external surfaces of said tube means.

5. A heat exchange and blending device for treatment of flowable materials, comprising a tumbling mill including a normally closed casing having a pair of tube sheets disposed in parallel relation transversely of said casing and subdividing said casing into a tube section and generally conical mixing chamber sections at opposite ends thereof, multiple tubes extending between said tube sheets through said tube section and in open communication with said chamber sections, means mounting said casing sections in unison about an axis transverse to said tubes whereby the load of material therein is caused to slide alternately from one chamber section through said tubes into the other chamber section, and means for circulating a heat exchange fluid through said casing tube section in heat exchange contact with the external surfaces of said tubes.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 316,007 Carr Apr. 21, 1885 928,706 Shepard July 20, 1909 1,332,137 Newhouse Feb. 24, 1920 1,718,542 Dobbelstein June 25, 1929 1,718,543 Dobbelstein June 25, 1929 1,828,799 Carlson Oct. 27, 1931 2,798,693 Bojner July 9, 1957 

